• Diogo Goulart Corrêa, Nicolle Zimmermann, Thomas M Doring, Nina Ventura Wilner, Sarah C B Leite, Rafael Ferracini Cabral, Rochele Paz Fonseca, Paulo R V Bahia, and Emerson Leandro Gasparetto.
• Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho, Rua Rodolpho Paulo Rocco 255, Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21941913, Brazil, diogogoulartcorrea@yahoo.com.br.
• Neuroradiology. 2015 May 1; 57 (5): 475-82.

IntroductionThe aim of this study was to evaluate whether normal controls and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients with and without planning deficits differ on white matter integrity.MethodsA total of 34 HIV-positive patients with planning deficits were compared with 13 HIV-positive patients without planning deficits and 19 gender-, age-, and education-matched control subjects. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed along 30 noncolinear directions in a 1.5-T scanner. For tract-based spatial statistics analysis, a white matter skeleton was created, and a permutation-based inference with 5000 permutations with a threshold of p < 0.05 was used to identify abnormalities in fractional anisotropy (FA). The median, radial, and axial diffusivities were also projected onto the mean FA skeleton.ResultsCompared with controls, HIV-positive patients with planning deficits had decreased FA in bilateral anterior thalamic radiations, bilateral inferior fronto-occiptal fasciculi, genu and splenium of the corpus callosum, bilateral superior longitudinal fascicule, and bilateral uncinate fasciculi. Compared to HIV-positive patients without planning deficits, patients with planning deficits had decreased FA in bilateral anterior thalamic radiations, bilateral inferior fronto-occiptal fasciculi, genu of the corpus callosum, bilateral superior longitudinal fascicule, and right uncinate fascicule.ConclusionDTI can detect extensive white matter abnormalities in the normal-appearing white matter of HIV-positive patients with planning deficits compared with controls and HIV-positive patients without planning deficits.

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